Why this word is great
GHASTNESS — [Noun] A state of sudden terror or shock; the quality of being ghastly or frightened. From Middle English gastnes, gastnesse, from gast (past participle of gasten, "to terrify"), equivalent to ghast ("terrified") + -ness (noun-forming suffix denoting state or quality). Unlike "horror" (which lingers like a shadow) or "awe" (which tempers fear with wonder), ghastness is the raw, immediate jolt of terror—the gasp at a face in the window, the icy stillness of a footfall in an empty house, the way a scream dies in the throat when the mind refuses belief. It is the moment before flight, when the body knows before the mind does.